


Interested Candidate

by spinner_atropos



Category: The Real Ghostbusters
Genre: First Impressions, Gen, In the Beginning, job interview
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 18:29:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3457373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spinner_atropos/pseuds/spinner_atropos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Either the company would go belly-up in a month--and she'd risk never getting paid--or it would be an interesting flash in the pan and at least get her résumé a little more attention later on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Interested Candidate

Sometimes you didn't know what you were looking for until you found it.

It was an approach Janine Melnitz preferred to apply to clothes shopping, but today she was spending quality time with the newspaper job ads instead. The last few weeks of job hunting had been fruitless, and she was starting to get desperate.

Here was a new one--"Small up-and-coming organization seeks energetic, independent worker to organize and manage office." Fairly standard, though it read a little like a personals ad. She liked the "independent" part--maybe it meant a position without someone breathing down her neck all the time. What the hell. She picked up the phone.

***

"Hey Egon, I don't think this beam thing is working!" Peter watched the ghost swoop right through the beam of the proton thrower Ray and Egon had devised.

"I did tell you it was experimental," Egon pointed out, training his PKE meter on the fleeing entity.

"How much longer until it _stops_ being experimental?"

Ray took a potshot at the ghost and missed by a country mile. It swooped back around, cackling gleefully. "That's what Egon's readings are for," he said. "If we can get enough data we can figure out what frequency--Egon, behind you!" He and Peter both fired at the thing and succeeded in startling it enough to make it swerve. Egon dodged out of the way, his eyes still fixed on the device in his hands.

The ghost homed in on Peter, slaloming in and out of his beam. "Hey Ray!" Peter shouted, covering his face with his arms as the creature veered upwards, coating him with a layer of slime like a giant slug. It whooped and continued on its path until it disappeared from sight. Peter sputtered and tried to clean his face. "Egon, I got some more of that ecto-crap for you."

"Thank you, Peter. Ray, these readings are very promising..."

***

Peter was relegated to the back seat on the way home. He tried fruitlessly to towel himself off--the ghost-gunk dried like mud, but faster. He gave up and decided he'd just crack it off once it dried. "I'm making an executive decision. We're not calling these little practice sessions 'dry runs' anymore."

"You're the only one who seems to have that problem, Peter," Ray said, grinning at him in the mirror.

"Yeah, I'd noticed." He de-gooped the face of his watch. "Can't this rustbucket go any faster? I have an interview at two-thirty."

"Was scheduling that immediately after a practice session really a good idea, Peter?"

"Why not? You can do the interview."

Egon spared him a dry look. "Personnel is your department."

"If you insist, but I think it's your turn to clear out the answering machine, in case you'd forgotten why we need a live secretary so bad."

"Maybe you should make that part of the interview," Ray joked.

"That's not a bad idea," Peter said. "Even if we don't hire anyone, we still get the messages screened once in a while."

"What do you think about this one?" Ray asked as he maneuvered the unwieldy vehicle into the garage bay.

"Janice or Janie or something with a J--definitely local, she's got a voice that could cut glass, but she seemed to have enough confidence and experience to handle the weirdos we've been attracting." They piled out of the car and Peter headed up the stairs for the upper floors while Ray and Egon went down to the basement to analyze their new data.

***

Janine stared up at the face of the old firehouse. There wasn't a sign up for the company occupying the building. Maybe not a good omen. Well, she hadn't even had any other callbacks in two weeks--beggars couldn't be choosers.

No one answered the door, so she let herself in. It just got better and better. Almost the entire first floor was one room with a desk in front of her, a partitioned-off area beyond that, and a large open space with an enormous garage door at the other end. Bizarre mechanical and electronic parts were scattered everywhere. What were these jokers up to in here? Maybe this was some kind of high-tech chop shop. "Hello?" There was still no one to be seen.

"Hi!" A smiling man came down the spiral stairs. "Are you here about the receptionist position?"

"Yes." She wondered what else people came here for.

"I'll get Peter, it'll be just a minute." He disappeared upstairs again.

There was nowhere to sit. She came a few steps into the room and continued looking around as she waited. That must be the reception desk in front of her. It would be a cold job in the winter, with the garage door at one end of the room and the massive front doors at the other.

Feet clanged on the stairs and a man jogged across the room to her. "Hi, I'm Dr. Peter Venkman, and you must be Miss--Melman?"

"Melnitz," she corrected him. He looked like one of those guys who thought the world of himself and expected everyone else to do the same. He gave her an appraising look and she was glad she'd chosen a pantsuit that morning. Time to go through the motions and then get the hell out of there.

"Come back to my office," he said, starting on a monologue about the company while leading her to the partitioned area.

"Ghostbusters?" she asked as he gestured her to a seat. "Like on TV?"

"That's us," he said, sitting behind his desk and looking pleased at the recognition. "You've seen our commercials?"

"I've heard about them, but I don't think I've seen one myself." Cable had been the first thing to go once money got tight; she preferred books to television anyway.

Otherwise, the interview was fairly standard. The pay wasn't the greatest, but it was better than unemployment. Either the company would go belly-up in a month--and she'd risk never getting paid--or it would be an interesting flash in the pan and at least get her résumé a little more attention later on.

The smiling man came by with a question for Peter during the interview, then looked at her. "So what do you think? Any questions for us?"

He seemed like a likable guy, amiable and full of energy. "It's certainly an interesting concept. Have you had many cases yet?"

His face fell a little. "Well, none yet, actually--"

Peter glared at him. "We anticipated that the general public would be reluctant to admit to having ghosts, but we're expecting our advertising to help people trust us. Our services will be discreet, of course, so no one would ever know their neighbors were having supernatural problems that might drive down property values." He rose from his desk. "Ray, could you get Spengs up here before we're done? I'd like Miss--uh--Melnitz to meet all the partners." He walked her to the door. "You seem to be a good candidate, if you're still interested in the position."

She knew the smile she gave him was patently fake, but she really didn't care. This whole deal was looking more and more like a bad idea. "I'll need a day or two to consider the offer, Mr.--"

"Doctor," he corrected. Of course, how could she forget.

"-- _Doctor_ Venkman."

***

Peter could tell he was losing her--he'd gotten nothing but polite antipathy from her since they'd shaken hands. It was too bad, really--they desperately needed someone, and if she wasn't buying his shit, she'd have no trouble keeping the kooks and cranks at bay as they tried to rustle up some actual business.

"You wanted something, Peter?" Egon's voice interrupted his train of thought and he turned to face him.

"Yes, I just wanted you to meet our candidate for the receptionist position--Janine Melnitz, Doctor Egon Spengler." He glanced over at her; she looked frozen in place, staring at Egon with an expression that might have been startlement.

"Pleased to meet you," Egon said politely, offering his hand. Janine gave him a glowing smile, the first real one she'd produced since she'd walked in. Peter gave Ray a "what the hell?" look. Ray just grinned and shrugged.

"Charmed, I'm sure."

Peter managed a small cough to mask the laugh that tried to escape. "Well, Miss Melnitz, that's about it; I'll expect a call from you Monday?"

He had her full attention again now that Egon had vanished back downstairs. "Actually, I believe I'll accept your offer today. Would I begin tomorrow or Monday?"

"Why not tomorrow? It'll give you an extra day to get acquainted with things. Glad to have you with the company." This time she gave _him_ a real smile, thought it wasn't anywhere close to the one she'd given Egon. They shook hands and she left.

He sauntered down to the basement, where Ray and Egon had a proton thrower disassembled across a table yet again. He clapped Egon on the shoulder. "Congratulations, Egon, you just landed us a receptionist."

Egon looked politely baffled. "I?"

The poor guy didn't have a clue. "You. I'll explain it to you over dinner. I think we'll celebrate with Chinese tonight."

"That's great!" Ray enthused. "Now we can focus our attention on the equipment, and maybe we can finally get a real, paying call--it's all up from here, right?"


End file.
